• SirDerpy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m just a millionaire. I’m worth diddly squat “on paper” because I intend to stay a millionaire. This isn’t a difficult fiscal apparatus to create. Billionaires have much more effective methods at their disposal.

    It doesn’t matter what the tax rates are so long as the loopholes remain wide open and there’s very little enforcement.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Loopholes are a consequence of tax law and enforcement. In theory, you can raise a lot of money for popular programs by aggressively pursuing tax cheats. In practice, we’ve built a society that hates the idea of taxation and yields social and financial rewards to people who open and defend new loopholes in the system.

      At what point does the neighborhood PTA put two and two together, to conclude a big cut to property taxes must necessitate a big cut to school budgets? Idk. Seems like redder and poorer states have been forced to square up with this reality sooner. But these states also tend to be captured by the corporate interests that dominate their political systems.

      But the real methods that the billionaire class have to stay free of taxation and regulation are in mass media and corporate lobbying. You can only do so much to hide your assets without rendering them valueless. Apple can bury its trillions in cash in a big hole in the ground, but then they can’t spend it on anything for the business. The real way to free up that cash is to convince voters that a big tax cut for repatriating all that money will benefit the country more than a higher tax rate on the Jobs Family Trust.

      • SirDerpy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You can only do so much to hide your assets without rendering them valueless.

        non sequitur. My assets and earnings are concurrently mine and not mine in accordance with state and federal law. Nothing is hidden or devalued.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          The methods by which businesses evade taxation routinely place the assets out of reach for general spending and utilization. This reduces their value to the business, sometimes even beyond what they’d save if they simply ate the tax bill.

          If you’re not doing that, I’m not surprised. Its very rarely a productive proposition unless your assets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

          • SirDerpy@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            If all I ever did was tell people what I think I know then I’d never have became a millionaire, let alone protected my assets and earnings so well.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Ah, see, I just stuck all my money in the S&P and rode the historic overblown equities returns.

              But I’m sure you’ve got a special mysterious secret that made your million a little more special.

              • SirDerpy@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                I just stuck all my money in the S&P and rode the historic overblown equities returns.

                Hard to beat.

                I’m sure you’ve got a special mysterious secret that made your million(s)

                Yes, in both the making and the protecting.